Hosiery form



HOSIERY FORM Filed April 15, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 all - ATTORNEYSPatented Nov. 19, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE H SIERY FORM YorkApplication April 15, 1938, Serial No 202,236

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an improvement in hosiery forms and moreparticularly to the method and apparatus for making such forms from atube of Celluloid or other moldable material.

The DeWitt Patent No. 2,029,706 granted February 4, 1936, discloses asimilar method and apparatus and the present invention is a furtherdevelopment thereof having for its primary objects the attainment ofgreater rapidity in the manufacture of the forms and a better controlover the forms whereby the Walls are of substantial uniformity inthickness, any thinness in the wall structure at the bends or joints dueto the stretching of the tube being avoided.

These and other objects of the invention will be set forth in thefollowing description and in the drawings which form a part thereof andin which Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate a two section mold by which thisinvention can be carried out;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of such mold taken along the line 33 onFig. 1;

Fig. 4 illustrates a tube of Celluloid from which 2.3 the hosiery formcan be made;

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate two successive positions that may be taken bythe tube with respect to one section of the mold before the form ismade;

Fig. 7 illustrates the completely formed form while it is in one of themold sections;

Fig. 8 illustrates a finished hosiery form made in accordance with thisinvention; and

Fig. 9 is a cross sectional View of a detail of the mold.

The mold here illustrated comprises two half sections 2! and 22 in eachof which is formed a depression 23 of such contour that, when thesections are assembled as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the depressionsunite to form a chamber, the inner walls of which define the contour ofthe finished hosiery form.

Each section comprises an inner wall 25, an outer wall 26, and a curvedflange 21. The inner and outer walls are spaced apart to form acompartment 28. Inlets and outlets 3| permit the introduction andremoval of steam, water or the like so that the invention may be carriedout in the manner described below. A nozzle 32 at the end of a pipe 33similarly permits the introou duction and removal of steam, air or thelike to and from the interior of the tube as the form is made.

The half sections each include half of the leg, and the foot of theform. The wall of each sec- 55 tion at the bottom of the foot is cutaway to provide a recess 35 which extends across the wall. An inwardlyprojecting flange 36 is provided on each wall at the recess 35 as shownin Fig. 9.

Except at the recesses 35 the edges of the sections are in contact whenthe mold is closed and are secured therein by the clamps 31. The flanges21, when the mold is closed, form a collar 38 which receives the nozzle32 and the end of the tube in which the nozzle is inserted so that suchend is clamped between the nozzle and the collar. The tube is thus fixedat each end inthe mold and longitudinal movement of the tube isprevented. The outer face of the nozzle and the inner face of the collarare provided with complementary grooves and bosses and the rela' tivedimensions thereof are such that the end of the tube is clamped securelyin place.

The hosiery form is made according to this invention from a tube 40preferably of Celluloid. One end of the tube is softened as by dippingin hot water and then forced out to the nozzle 32. The tube is thenplaced upon one section of the mold (see Fig. 5). Steam is introducedthrough the pipe 33 to soften the tube and is then out off. The limptube is laid in the depression 23 with the open end in the recess 35.Care is taken that no part of the tube rests upon the wall of the moldsection except at the flange 21 and the recess 35. The section 22 of themold is placed upon and clamped to the section 2 I.

After the mold has been thus clamped closed the tube, which has thusbeen closed at one end in the recesses 35, is subjected to heat andpressure in two steps. The first step consists in introducing steamfirst into the compartments 28 and then into the tube 40. The secondstep consists in forcing air into the tube and at the same time drivingwater through the compartments. By the first step the mold is heated andthe tube heated and expanded into contact with the walls of the mold. Bythe second step the walls of the mold are cooled and the expansion ofthe tube completed so that it is held throughout its surface in contactwith the cooled walls of the mold and thus set in the desired contour.If the steam were not followed by the air the cooling of the mold wallswould condense the steam and create a vacuum which would result inunevenness in the surface of the finished form.

The mold is then opened and the tube is disclosed in the condition shownin Fig. 7. The end of the form opposite the nozzle has a projection 4|(Figs. '7 and 9) formed in the recesses 35 and the other end has aninturned flange formed by the ends of the flanges 21, which as shown inFigs. 5, 6 and 7, project inwardly from the walls of the sections and aconical tip 42 formed by the flanges 21. The projection 4| and tip 42are trimmed to produce the finished form 43 shown in Fig. 8.

It has been discovered that the heat applied in the first step to themold and the tube causes the Celluloid of the tube to flow. Advantage ofthis fact is taken in that the mold during this first step is placed asshown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 so that the material will flow down to theheel of the form where the greatest strain is set up and the heel of thefinished form willp'ossess the necessary strength and thickness;advisable to shift the position of the mold from time to time during thefirst step in order to guard against any undue thinness'in the wall ofthe form and to insure a general uniformity in thickness throughout theform.

The forms so mademay be opaque and flesh colored or may be transparentvdepending upon the stock from which the tubes are made. The pressuresunder which the steam and air are supplied vary according to the typesof forms made, being greater for the opaque and flesh colored forms thanfor the transparent forms. More specifically it has been found that thefollowing pressures result in satisfactory forms.

For opaque flesh colored forms use in step No. 1 steam at 20 poundspressure in compartments 28 and at 15 pounds pressure in the tubes andin step No. 2 air at 40 pounds pressure in the tubes. For transparentforms use in step No. 1 steam at 10 pounds pressure in compartments 28and!) to 10 pounds pressure in the tubes and in step No. 2 air at 30pounds pressure in the tubes.

While one embodiment of this invention has been described specificallyit will be understood 40 that the invention is not limited thereto andthat It has been found it may be carried out in other embodimentswithout departing from the spirit and scope thereof as set forth in thefollowing claims.

We claim:

1. In an apparatus for making hosiery forms 5 or the like may beintroduced into the tube that end of the tube being clamped between thenozzle and the collar when the mold is closed.

2. In an apparatus for making hosiery forms from a tube, a mold in whichthe tube is expanded into the hosiery form, said mold comprising twoseparable sections each section containing a depression, the walls ofwhich meet when the mold is closed, to form a chamber the wall of whichdetermines the outer contour of the hosiery form, and including a curvedflange which flanges, when the mold is closed, meet to define a collar,and a nozzle over which one end of the tube is slipped and through whichsteam, air or the like may be introduced into'the tube that end of thetube being clamped between the nozzle and the collar when the mold isclosed, the walls of the sections being provided with compartmentsunconnected with the depressions or chamber and adapted to receivesteam, water or the like whereby the mold may be heated or cooled.

WILLIAM J. DE WITT. ISAAC GOODFELLOW. CECIL L. SIMS.

